I woke up to find my pack completely soaked! Not from rain, oh no that would be too obvious, but from my previously full water bottle which somehow managed to leak over everything. In disgust I inspected my gear. Nothing was dry (okay, except most of my food but I wasn't exactly in a grateful frame of mind at the time)- my clothes, my map, even the moleskin Matt had lovingly cut into a variety of shapes (so as to ensure that every conceivable place on my foot would have a custom cut moleskin to prevent blisters) was soaked! My pack felt heavy (and wet!) as I grumpily strapped it on my back.
But the beach walk along the sandstone shelves where there were tide pools was so interesting that soon I didn't have a care in the world. Dad and I walked along the beach at any opportunity we got. We enjoyed the views from the shore more than those from the forest trails, and the relatively flat terrain was more gentle on our sore bodies.
At lunch we ate snacks from the Chez Monique restaurant/shop (a bunch of tarps and a bbq) just before the Carmanah lighthouse. While we ate our gummy worms and salt & vinegar chips, we sat on the beach and watched a california grey whale who put on a regular show about every five minutes not far off in the ocean.
After lunch we rejoined the forest trail. Then the confusion began. At the first bathroom stop Dad told me that he would hike up a ways and find a place to sit while he waited for me. As a hiked along I saw no sign of Dad until at last I arrived at the beach access point (after sliding down a particularly steep and muddy hill). After waiting a while I asked a group Dad and I had passed earlier whether they had seen him. They said Dad was back at the Carmanah lighthouse waiting for me. Back up the mud hill I went. Luckily he had started coming down the trail so I didn't have to travel too far (but I did have a third pass at that mud slide). A little ways up the beach we used Dad's binoculars to watch the sea lions on Sea Lion Rock.
That night we camped at my favorite place, Dare Point, which wasn't a designated camping site (probably because the water wasn't drinkable). The beach had the best tide pools we saw throughout our trip. Dad has a sharp eye for spotting wildlife and he was able to find a bunch of orange and purple starfish. That night two really good things happened- I dried all my camping gear by the fire and I roasted the marshmallows I bought from Chez Monique's.
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